State denies bed closures

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The State Government has denied claims it has closed more than
200 public hospital beds since 1999, causing patients to be
stranded on trolleys in cramped emergency departments.

The Australian Private Hospitals Association released a report
this month claiming the Victorian Government had closed 224 public
hospital beds between 1999-2000 and 2002-2003.

Association policy director Paul Mackey said the figures were
obtained from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data,
which was compiled using information provided by states and
territories.

He said the bed closures highlighted the concerns of hospital
staff who reported that emergency departments were overcrowded and
patients had to wait on trolleys because of a shortage of beds.

But a spokeswoman for Health Minister Bronwyn Pike said the
figures provided to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
had been the number of operational beds.

"The Bracks Government has put more than 400 hospital beds back
into the system since coming into office," spokeswoman Melissa Arch
said.

"The reason emergency departments are overcrowded is because
record numbers of GP-type patients are presenting to emergency
departments because they don't have alternatives."

But Australian Medical Association Victorian president Sam Lees
said GP-type patients accounted only for about 15 per cent of the
emergency department workload and it was untrue they were clogging
the system. "The whole premise is wrong," Dr Lees said. "The basic
issue is we need more beds, and that needs to be up in bright
lights."

He said bed occupancy in public hospitals was about 95 per cent
and more beds should be introduced until the rate dropped to 85 per
cent.

A Victorian councillor for the Australasian College of Emergency
Medicine, Andrew Maclean, said there had been a loss of beds in
several hospitals. He said most emergency departments had between a
third and a half of cubicles occupied by patients who should be in
a ward. "It does alarm me. I think there is certainly pressure on
the system," he said.

Victoria's hospital system struggled in the three months to June
30, with the number of people waiting in emergency for more than 12
hours increasing by 36 per cent and elective surgery lists rising
sharply, according to the latest quarterly report.

Opposition health spokesman David Davis said Premier Steve
Bracks had closed the equivalent of a major public hospital
permanently.

"Steve Bracks should stop blaming others for the problems in our
hospital system and open the 224 Victorian hospital beds his
Government has closed," he said.